Toys & Household Memorabilia

This unique collection centres on the austerity period of the 1930s to the late 1950s. The main focus of the collection reflects the daily life of civilians during the 1940s. There are many hundreds of household artefacts, toys, games and personal items which will give students insight into Britain since the 1930s.

The display area and the cases contain a wide variety of 'ordinary' objects which can be studied and used in a number of ways.

For example,

• 'Wash-day then and now' looking at the old and new technologies.
• Mechanisms used in the past to operate toys. How did moving toys work?
• How did parents and children cope with the general lack of new playthings during and after WWII?
• Materials available during the period when there were virtually no regulations governing the manufacture of playthings. What were most playthings made from?
• What games and pastimes from the nineteen-thirties are still popular today?
• Why did children collect bottle tops and shrapnel?
• Why was an empty cotton-reel a prized possession?
• What did all school-age children have to be able to do unaided in nine seconds?
• What sort of things were made as 'make-do-and-mend' items?

‘Hands-on’ is usually featured, as is a demonstration of 'make-do-and-mend’ toys, and making the exploding boat perform is always thrilling.

Classes normally spend about 45 minutes in each of their chosen collections. However, teachers can opt for a longer session in the Holley/Cornelius Collection, looking in-depth at mechanisms and materials, studying make-do-and-mend, making a rag-rug sample, or even making a typical home-made toy of the time to take home with them..

To get the most out of a visit, students ought to have done some background work on childrens’ lives in the 1940s. A visit supports class work on History, English and Technology, and gives the children an opportunity to explore a new vocabulary.

Learning objectives for toys

Students will be able to state why many toy factories had a vital alternative role to play during WW2.

Students will be able to discuss the increasing need for toy safety-regulations after looking at and handling some examples of period toys.

Students will identify the need in a total war situation for citizens of all ages to save money, and to "make do and mend,"  and to resist the Squander Bug.

Students will, by looking at examples, notice how toys reflect the times in which they are made.